This mixed-use scheme by RBTA aims to contribute to the regeneration and transformation of a former industrial area into a vibrant, dynamic new urban centre for Funchal.

The 10,000 m2 site is located just outside the old city, with its narrow streets and small squares that respond to a traditional urban grid. The rua da Ribeira marks the separation between the old town and a less dense area, with generous green open spaces, villas, hotels and large scale buildings.

The scheme transforms the existing impermeable city block to produce a more permeable urban fabric; incorporating a series of squares, the design liberates...

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MEMORANDUM

As its name suggests, the scheme for Funchal Centrum, aims to become a new urban centre for the city of Funchal. The project’s main concern is the creation of a diverse, multifunctional urban grid with a balanced mix of...

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Funchalcentrum

Description

Extras

MEMORANDUM

As its name suggests, the scheme for Funchal Centrum, aims to become a new urban centre for the city of Funchal. The project’s main concern is the creation of a diverse, multifunctional urban grid with a balanced mix of...

This mixed-use scheme by RBTA aims to contribute to the regeneration and transformation of a former industrial area into a vibrant, dynamic new urban centre for Funchal.

The 10,000 m2 site is located just outside the old city, with its narrow streets and small squares that respond to a traditional urban grid. The rua da Ribeira marks the separation between the old town and a less dense area, with generous green open spaces, villas, hotels and large scale buildings.

The scheme transforms the existing impermeable city block to produce a more permeable urban fabric; incorporating a series of squares, the design liberates additional public space.

Integrating a mixed-use program encouraging day and night-time activity, the masterplan’s aspiration was to create an attractive urban environment.

The 170 apartments and the 200-room “Vine Hotel” are distributed over 17,000 m2 in two 25-storey svelte campanile buildings, which mark the centre of the composition. The terraces on each floor around the external perimeter of the buildings are conceived as continuous loggias.

Relating to the neighborhood scale, the 4,000 m2 of flexible office space is concentrated in a lower glass building. The two-storey retail area is spread over two pedestrian streets, roof gardens and a square, thus encouraging pedestrian circulation.

The design combines the use of locally available materials, such as the natural stone and the stucco, and a glass-steel combination.

The scheme provides five underground levels of separate car park for 1,500 vehicles. The design takes advantage of the site’s slopes to reduce the visual impact of parking accesses and ramps.

As its name suggests, the scheme for Funchal Centrum, aims to become a new urban centre for the city of Funchal. The project’s main concern is the creation of a diverse, multifunctional urban grid with a balanced mix of activities that generate a vibrant community.

The site borders the Old City of Funchal, a city with a small-scale vernacular character facing the ocean. The plot is bounded by the rua da Ribeira, which marks the division between the traditional urban grid and a less dense layout with green areas and open space that includes villas, hotels and larger- scale buildings.

The major challenge of this project is to design an urban development bringing together a mix of retail and commercial, office and residential, which still remains permeable and open and is animated day and night.

The concept is based on the premise that maximum permeability had to be achieved within a substantial degree of densification. The impermeable superblock needed to incorporate a series of new civic plazas which should allow space to be freed as a continuation of the Old City layout.

The scheme’s main approach involves:

A street layout extending into the streets which surround the block that traverses the shopping centre.